KERRY Fine Gael TD, Brendan Griffin is welcoming over €13.4 million in regional and local roads allocations for Kerry local authorities in 2014.

Friday, January 24th 2014KERRY Fine Gael TD, Brendan Griffin is welcoming over €13.4 million in regional and local roads allocations for Kerry local authorities in 2014.The funding was announced today by Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar.One of the biggest projects included in the funding is €640,000 for the Kenmare Inner Relief Road. There is also over €5 million for maintenance and over €6.5 million for restoration improvement works countywide.Kerry’s Town Councils will receive a block grant of over €650,000 in 2014.Deputy Griffin says the funding for Kerry is badly needed and will all be used to improve the road network in the county.He also thanked the people of Kerry for contributing to the fund through their motor related taxes and said that this funding along with NRA funding means that over €23 million will be spent on all Kerry roads in 2014. Note: Details attached – Info on funding categories below.LOCAL IMPROVEMENT SCHEMES:The Local Improvement Scheme remains in place for 2014 however there is no separate allocation available towards this grant category. Instead local authorities may use up to 15% of their initial Discretionary Grant (as allocated in January 2014) towards local improvement schemes should they wish to do so. This is up from 7% last year. The local contribution for these schemes remains at 20% of the total cost of the project. The same eligibility rules apply for these schemes. Community Involvement Scheme (CIS)Within these allocation, the local authorities have been given the previously committed CIS amounts for 2014 to a number of local authorities. A review of the pilot CIS programme is currently underway and following its completion consideration will be given as to whether further CIS grants are allocated in 2014. Bridge RehabilitationThis is a new heading for this year with a targeted fund being made available in 2014 to fund bridge rehabilitation works arising out of the current Principal Inspections framework.Damage to Regional and Local roads during recent stormsThe Government recently considered a preliminary report on the damage caused to all public infrastructure, including roads and rail with an initial estimate of the cost of the damage. Local authorities have now been asked to prepare a full assessment of the work that needs to be done together with detailed cost estimates. This will be co-ordinated by the Department of the Environment. The detailed assessment and the action required will then be considered by Government. In the meantime local authorities are permitted to prioritise the repair of these roads from their 2014 RLR grant allocation.